


I always liked the coffee that you made.

by smallbump



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-27
Updated: 2015-04-27
Packaged: 2018-03-26 02:14:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3833224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallbump/pseuds/smallbump
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>17-year old Dan gets a summer job at Starbucks and the regular customer Phil makes him weak in the knees and of course he spends his entire summer flirting with him constantly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I always liked the coffee that you made.

It’s Dan’s fifth day at the tiny Starbucks that is located at the corner of a street three underground stations from his flat and it’s… it’s going.

So far he’s spilled milk, made the wrong order about ten times and he doesn’t understand how the cashier works _at all._ His co-workers are sighing and sighing and sighing, picking up his failed pieces and dries up the wet floor while shaking their heads. Dan smiles nervously and tries to shrug his shoulders. Because despite the too-many-mistakes Dan likes it, it’s his first job and he’s doing it – not amazingly well, but at least he’s doing it. That’s what matters. And he is getting better, he’s learning every day and then, one day, he’ll just be magically amazing at it.

“Hey, Pete,” he greets the tall, lanky redhead that is his boss but looks more like a friend while tying his apron around his waist, “Katie,” he says as he looks up and meets Katie, a black haired girl with freckles and dark eyeliner, who only mutters something that he thinks is supposed to be a good morning. Katie is not a morning-person, Dan isn’t exactly either but he’s feeling rather well rested and happy today. Like today is the day where he won’t mess up, not even once.  _Or maybe only mess up once. (Or twice…)_

“Morning Dan…” Pete isn’t a morning-person either. This is going to be fun. Dan ignores their tired stares and yawns; he’s here to work. “Uhm, you could start by filling up milk and soy in the fridges and the extracts, we showed you the storage room right?”

Dan nods, he’s memorized everything, where they ship in the groceries to where the supply room is to where he’s supposed to take the trash out. Dan wants to be good at this, because he needs to be good at _something_ and how hard can it be to make a cup of coffee? It shouldn’t be hard. As he loads the fridges, he listens to Pete and Katie communicating through very, very few simple words and it stuns him how they can possibly understand each other, but also thinks that one day that’s going to be him talking like that.

Sure, this is just a summer job and if – _if_ – he’s good enough, maybe a weekend job when he returns to school.  Dan wants to be good enough; he needs to be, if he’s being honest. He needs the money and the distraction. Something that will make him leave his flat at evenings and weekends.

He stack coffee cups for a while, and then he’s watching Katie mix together the orders. It only takes a minute or two sometimes and he feels dumb because he just does not understand how she does it. For Dan it would’ve taken at least five. Or seven.

“Hey, Dan, could you skim milk for two macchiato, maybe?”

“Sure, sure!” he chirps, maybe a little bit too happily, “Regular?”

Katie nods and goes back to what she was doing. She isn’t much of a talker, so Dan tries to not be too obnoxious and annoying when he’s around her by talking nonsense like he usually does.

If there’s one thing he’s definitely good at by now, it’s skimming milk. Dan has perfected it for three days and now he does it like Katie and Pete does it, quick and easy and the foam is perfect. He smiles widely and hands it to her, no smile in return. For Dan, making perfect skimmed milk is like winning, he can hear the cheers and applauds in his head and he’s mentally bowing down for his imaginary audience.

For Katie, it’s an every day chore.

She asks him to do two more, Dan pours up milk and gets to it, feeling stupid for being proud of himself for doing such an easy task. It’s the little things, he tells himself. The next hour or so, Dan has a milk-jur in hand while going back and forth getting things Katie needs. It’s going well, he wants to comment on how they make a great team but it’s only been five days and maybe Dan should slow down on becoming best friends with her just yet. Besides, he doesn’t need her to notice the age gap between them ever more than she obviously does. Katie is seven years older and super cool. She’s so casual in the most casual way despite her obvious two hour-make up she has every day along with her always fixed hair, either in a big bun or in a braid, or sometimes she just lets it hanging and Dan can have moments where he suddenly feels incredibly straight just by looking at her.

It calms down with customers for a while, so Dan moves over to the cashier, with Pete holding an eye on him. Dan is nervous, he honestly cannot mess up anymore, it’s a surprise that they still let him work.

Although, today is an excuse because Dan is doing marvellous as he’s taking orders and smiling politely and being way too patient for being him. Dan jokes with customers but also knows when he doesn’t need to and just asks for their name and order, while handing back their change and receipt.

“Who are you and what have you done to Dan?” Pete jokes a few hours later, when they’re leaned against the counter, doing nothing due to the lack of people coming in.

“I wasn’t that bad… Was I?” Dan unfolds his crossed arms and starts scratching his arm, a weird habit he subconsciously does whenever he’s unsure of things, his fringe is falling before his eyes a little.

He hears Pete laugh, and looks up, “Well, you’re definitely learning and that’s what matters.”

***

Dan definitely learns as times goes by, three weeks pass in the blink of an eye and suddenly Dan knows pretty much everything. He can’t remember every single coffee drink just yet but soon maybe he could throw away his cheating note that’s hanging discreetly by the coffee machine.

He even have conversations with Katie that goes on for longer than just two minutes and he’s managed to make her laugh a few times, which to Dan is a victory. He feels like he’s one of them now, and not just the new kid. Dan is having a great summer so far.

It’s a sunny, windy day this Thursday and Dan’s a bit tired but he doesn’t let it ruin his mood too much. He’s cleaning the fridges, just because they needed it, not because anyone told him to and when Katie noticed she raised her eyebrows, but told him it was a good idea.

_“Helloo?”_

Dan stands up, does a spin and is met by two familiar faces, he smiles and nods.

“Now that we got your attention, can we order?”

Dan clears his throat, praying his cheeks doesn’t turn red like they usually do when Phil and PJ comes in to get their daily intake of coffee, “Yeah, yeah, sure. Sorry, what can I get you?”

“Cappuccino, to go,” PJ says, before he answers his phone and leave them be.

Phil watches his friend completely move out of the coffee shop, sighs and turns back to Dan, “Looks like I’m paying, huh.” He says, but doesn’t sound the slightest surprised.

Dan tries to laugh a little but it mostly comes out as a choked one, as if he hadn’t been embarrassing enough already. “Yeah…”

Phil and PJ had been coming in almost every day since Dan started working, probably long before that too, and even though, they’re practically mates by now, Dan can’t help but feel embarrassing and nervous around them. Around Phil, to be more specific.   
PJ’s gorgeous, there’s no arguing about it and he’s funny as hell and his imagination is beyond this world but Phil…

Phil is special. Not only does he have one of the friendliest faces Dan has ever seen, with round, ocean blue eyes and a smile to die for.  He is very tall with broad shoulders, his legs covered in skinny, black jeans and a nice shirt, today it is blue and Dan loves it. And even though, one would think he’s got a cold body temperature with his pale skin, he doesn’t. Their fingers brushed against one another once when Dan was handing him the cup of coffee and his hands were surprisingly warm and soft and Dan thinks that’s how Phil is. Surprising, soft and warm. There’s no point in trying to figure him out based on looks and appearance because he’s the complete opposite. He’s not cold, he’s warm and friendly and nice and a little bit shy until he’s not and then Phil is an even more delight than Dan ever thought he could be.

Phil is easy to talk to; he’s a good listener.

It’s been three weeks and the longest conversation they’ve had lasted twenty minutes, until Pete muttered in Dan’s ear that he’s supposed to be working. And well, yeah, Dan kind of is falling so hard for him. Which is of course so stupid.

“Just write idiot on his cup,”

Dan lets out a chuckle, because anything Phil says makes him laugh, which is also stupid because it’s not actually funny, it’s just funny because it’s Phil who is saying it. “You in a fight?”

Dan has been trying to figure out whether Phil and PJ are a couple or not for about, well three weeks frankly, and it’s not going very well. He’s never heard a mention of a girlfriend or boyfriend from either of them, and they behave like friends most of the time. But then, sometimes they’re just so close and touching just a little too much, but maybe that’s how they are. Dan doesn’t know. _And it is driving him mad.  
_ Because that means he can’t really flirt with Phil.

“It’s just one of those days. Thanks Katie,” Phil grins when he sees the devil Dan had scribbled on one of the cups, “Perfect. Have a good day, Dan!”

There’s a silly proud smile pasted on Dan’s tanned face as he watches Phil leave the shop, hand one cup to PJ and as he sees how Phil is laughing, he can practically hear it in his head. He doesn’t have the time to watch them walk down the street for a while before disappearing around a corner, as the line is building up. Dan puts on his service-smile and asks for the next customer’s order and name, passing it on to Katie.

He even forgets to wonder if Phil liked his message on his cup this day.

Dan started doing smiley-faces on most people’s coffee cups last week one day when he was having one of his better days. A day that turned into an even better day, because it was much appreciated by their customers and Dan got several smiles back. But with Phil being Phil, Dan put in extra effort and gave the smiley-face a body and a talking bubble, where he complimented Phil on his new haircut. Something that the black haired guy appreciated a lot so after that, he couldn’t exactly stop doing it. Not that he wanted to. It’s a good thing that they usually come in after the morning rush or Dan wouldn’t have the time.   
  
(Maybe Dan is flirting a little bit with Phil after all.)

“So, are you going to wait another three weeks before you ask him out or?”

Dan gives Katie a frown and a confused look, “Ask who?”

“Phil, obviously. You’ve been flirting for three weeks now, isn’t it time to take it further?”

Dan hates himself for being so obvious; he’s like an open book. “Isn’t he with…”

“PJ? Oh come on, they’re practically brothers. Phil wants you; do you know how often he comes in here because of you? Before you started working here, they were here once a week, if even that, and now it’s almost every day.” 

“Really?” There’s no point in trying to hide his smile, Katie just shakes her head at him.

“I’m telling you Dan, he’s hooked on you.”

Naturally, Dan spends the rest of the two days being completely out of focus because all that goes through his mind is Katie going _‘he’s hooked on you, he’s hooked on you, he’s hooked on you’_

Hooked. On you.

When they come in the next day, it’s Pete who is behind the cashier and Dan’s making the coffee for them, and when he hands them their coffee Phil frowns a little and Dan’s eyes grow bigger.

“What?” He asks worryingly, did he mess up?

Phil smiles a little with the corner of his mouth, “No message on the cup,” he explains and leaves straight after. It makes Dan smile.   
He has to be by the cashier the next day, he decides.

But as he looks into the mirror the next morning he wants to fall through the face of the earth and disappear forever. Or, just not see Phil today.

He’s got a pimple starting to grow right under his lip, where he once thought of getting a piercing. He didn’t have time to shower properly so there’s still some shampoo in his hair and the deodorant gave up on him after one arm. Dan is a fucking mess today. He looks like shit and he feels just that.   
Sure, he doesn’t start working until 9am on Saturdays but going out with mates the night before until three in the morning probably wasn’t the best idea after all.

Before going out into the café, Dan praises to the supposed Gods up there that Phil is not coming in today, he sometimes does on Saturdays and usually it would make Dan’s entire day – just not today. 

“Hey, Dan!”

_Fuck._

“Hiya, Phil.”

Dan’s shift doesn’t start for another few minutes so he takes the seat next to Phil, they both smile but says nothing and Dan hates everything. He doesn’t want things to be weird. Does Phil know Dan likes him? Why is he even here?   
Phil looks nice today, stunning in fact.

“What are you doing here?” He tries to be casual, but it’s no use and he ends up sounding almost rude and annoyed. “I- I just meant, ‘cause you, like order your coffee and go, …you know?”

Dan wants to escape to the bathroom again and never come out. Of course he’s the one to make things awkward and embarrassing enough for the both of them.

Phil doesn’t seem to mind, he only laughs a little and smiles fondly (Dan decides it is fondly even though it might be because he feels sorry for Dan, for being so stupid, that is.)

“I’m waiting for someone, but they don’t seem to show. Maybe I’ll just hang here for a while, I’m not too fond of spending the day by myself, to be honest.” Phil’s eyes narrow as he looks away, he sighs slightly to himself and Dan’s heart aches.

Having Phil spending his day in the coffee shop would definitely make Dan’s day a lot better and brighter, but of course he can’t say that.

But it would. Because Phil makes him laugh and smile and think about things that would never in a million years cross his mind otherwise, but that’s just Phil. And he thinks Dan is great, or so he says. Said once at least.

“Well, you do as you like,” Dan comments, and again, sounding rude and annoyed which was not what he intended at all. This really is a bad day.

Phil frowns, “Unless that bothers you?” He’s shuffling in his seat, clearly uncomfortable, clearly unsure what to do. Suddenly, he looks nervous and Dan has never seen that before.

“No, no, I- I’m having a bad day I think. Honestly Phil, it would make my day if you were here.” Dan is mentally face palming, squinting his eyes shut completely. That is, until he feels a hand on his wrist and a breathing so close to his ear. Slowly, he opens one eye and sees Phil leaning over the table with a smirk on his face. 

“Then I’m going nowhere.”

Dan opens his other eye and fires off a big smile. “Good.”

“Ey, Dan, stop flirting and get to work!” And in that moment he decides he’s going to punch Katie.

“Ooops,” Phil grins. The confident in him is back, his spine straighten.

Dan’s workday begins and Phil moves over to one of the bar stools so when Dan doesn’t have any customers they can talk, which they can. A lot. As this Starbucks is located a bit outside of town, around an area of a lot of companies, there aren’t that many people coming in on Saturdays since most of them have the weekends off work.

What started out to be a horrible day is beginning to seem much better. He isn’t mad at the supposed Gods up there anymore for doing so Phil came into the shop today, he’s rather glad that he did. Dan tries to flirt with Phil, only occasionally and discreetly, to see if he’s picking up.

When Phil comments on Dan’s failure of a hairstyle but quickly add that he totally pulls it off either way, Dan thinks he does after all. He’s beginning to feel very nervous, very quickly.

He’s been wanting this to happen since the first day Phil actually acknowledged him and they talked for a bit, but now, when it’s finally happening, Dan is scared as shit. Mostly scared of fucking up. The age gap is definitely a thing they’re both very aware of but surely it would bother Phil a lot more, and since it doesn’t seem to be, Dan shouldn’t care either. However, he can’t help but do.

When Katie bosses Dan around, he rolls his eyes at her when she’s not looking and Phil giggles. Katie turns around, but Phil is deeply focused on his phone and Dan pretends to clean, but when she looks away again, they both giggle, like two children.   
Dan can hear her sigh on her way out when she leaves Dan alone for the remaining two hours, “Bye lovebirds,” she says sheepishly before closing the door.

And suddenly Dan and Phil are completely alone. Neither of them says anything. Katie’s words are ringing in Dan’s ears and by the looks of it, in Phil’s too.

She really is the worst, or best. Dan hasn’t decided yet, depending how the rest of the day goes.

“Only two hours to go then…” Dan says, because he has to say something. Heart’s beating faster as he glances over at Phil who is back to focusing on his phone and Dan doesn’t really know what to do. He begins to organize behind the counter, almost afraid to even breathe. The silence in the room is thickening. After a little while he stops and looks over at Phil again, properly, and simply admires him.   
Phil is incredible pretty in Dan’s eyes. He wonders if anyone has told him lately that he is indeed very pretty and beautiful. Dan wonders if Phil knows.   
He looks peaceful where he sits, one hand cupping his cheek and the other holding his phone. Phil smiles every now and then, it makes Dan smile. It makes his heartbeat go faster, the feeling in his stomach tightens, in a good way. Dan loves having Phil around him like this, just being here with him. It’s a comfortable silence that Dan appreciates.

It hasn’t been more than fifteen minutes but it feels like an hour, time is going by so slowly. Phil is beautiful and Dan is crushing.

“Do you think I could get another macchiato before you close?” Phil says out of the blue and looks up, startling Dan completely, making him blush and his eyes quickly falls to the floor but Phil saw. He saw Dan staring. “Pretty please?” A smile grows on Dan’s face as he begins making Phil’s coffee.

“I’ll pay you in kisses if you want,”   
All the bones in Dan’s body suddenly gets replaced with butterflies. There’s no point in trying to hide his smile and contain the happiness he feels, because it’s all bubbling up like crazy, Dan bites his bottom lip as he looks over at Phil, who is sat with a proud smile on his face, knowing exactly what he’s doing.

He leaves the paper cup of coffee by the coffee machine as he goes and gets the groom and on his way out in the café he takes the cup.

“Here you go,” He says low and puts it down on the counter beside Phil, whose eyes had been locked on Dan the entire time.

“And here you go,” Phil begins, pulling Dan’s arms gently for him to get closer, wasting no time at all when he finally is and presses his lips on Dan’s. Dan rests his hands on Phil’s lap, breathing in the kiss deeply and savouring every moment that passes. Phil clenches his thigh muscles when Dan touches them, his hands’ grip around Dan’s skinny arms loosens once their lips touch, and they stroke his skin and press gently instead.

There’s music from the radio in the background and the sounds of cars and buses from outside, but he could still hear Phil’s breathing, unsteady. 

And Dan? He is on top of the world.


End file.
